Da Capo al Fine
by Broken Antler in Winter
Summary: -repeat from the beginning to the end, or to the word 'fine'- AU: The universe throws them a curve ball, and, suddenly, three of the world's greatest heroes are lost.


**Da Capo al Fine**

_-repeat from the beginning to the end, or the word fine-_

* * *

><p>"Speedy, what are you doing?"<p>

Roy turns to the rest of the League and snarls, "Does it matter what side of the glass we're on, Fleet Feet? The fact that we're given a glorified backstage pass? We've _earned _this, more than they'll ever know, and you'll just stand there and take it?" Looking around at the hesitant expressions on the other's faces, he snorts. _They aren't ready. What changed from the first time? This place has made them soft. _

"Calm down, Speedy," Dick says, a commanding tone entering his voice, despite not raising it at all. _There's Robbie, Teen Wonder. _"You should wait and talk over with GA-"

"You think I'm going to try to earn their trust again? _Bullshit. _So," Roy looks to Dick and Wally, "are you coming with me or not?"

"Roy, don't do this," Ollie begins. The _bastard, _he _doesn't _have a right. It's been too long, this charade for nothing, and this Ollie isn't even _the _Ollie. And Roy isn't the one they knew either. That one's dead, gone, or wherever she pushed the three.

"You can't tell me what to do! I'm not a _child._" _Haven't been for a long time, Ollie. None of you, not even Bats, have noticed that about us. _"Well? Are you going to stay with them, or come with me?" As none of them make a move to come with him, Roy sneers, "Of course. I expected Fleet Feet, he never had any problems with Flash, but _you too, _Robbie? Even Aqualad. Well, maybe they're right, you _aren't _ready."

"Wait, Roy-" Ollie calls over.

Roy leaves. He's done this long enough to warrant the respect, but if they're not going to give it to them, then why should he even bother?

* * *

><p>Dick wakes up one day, and he feels something is wrong, sick to the stomach, disoriented, . The color of his roof...it's blue in Bludhaven and he had a repainted the same in the Manor, but this? He doesn't feel right, like a thousand things are wrong and one of them is <em>himself. <em>

He doesn't scream.

Standing up on limbs that fall far to short and a body that feels far too young, Dick runs to the bathroom, where it should be in the Manor, right? But it _isn't there _and he looks around and around until he finds a mirror that shows him-

No, _no, _this can't be happening, and it shouldn't, because how is he _11 _again? For a moment he sees nothing but blurs and vomits into the toilet, before he could gain his bearings, because the last thing he remembers, the _last thing he remembers_...is _dying. _

* * *

><p>It's been a long time since the Titans were together, and even then they're missing Garth and Donna. Flash, Arsenal, and Nightwing, <em>together, <em>again, and it's great, it's the _old days _again, before everything went to hell and they _lost _so much.

The villains only have to win once.

Flash.

Bang.

Boom.

Blood.

Wally didn't think dying would be like this.

_"You have another role in the world...I will give you another chance...Save the world again, you always do..." _

The woman with midnight-blue skin, glowing stars for eyes, and a golden circlet inlaid with a blood ruby smiles and sends them on their way through space, time, and into the darkness.

* * *

><p>Wally's been sitting in his bed for hours now, eyes wide and staring at the mirror he holds in his hands. This isn't <em>right. <em>The calendar says 2008, and that _isn't right _and oh, oh god, time travel? Do not let it be time travel, because the memories of death are still too clear and-

He's 13, and he's still living with his dad? No, no, no, no, no, _no. _Why isn't he with Barry? He needs to find Uncle Barry, Aunt Iris, and-Irey-and-Jai-and-Linda-and- He doesn't understand what the woman with the blue skin was saying. What did she mean, and why is the last memory he can think of a burning, faster than light _pain? _

It's all gone now, and the only thing he can feel is panic.

Sitting there with his head in his hand, he doesn't know until his dad walks into the room and- _No. No, no, no, no. Can't, not again, not my dad. I can't, I can't do this again. _

When his dad finally walks into the room, looking concerned _no-that's-a-lie-he-never-cared-find-Barry-find-Barry _Wally does what he does best.

He runs.

* * *

><p>Four hours, that's what it takes for Wally to calm down, because <em>it's his dad. <em>Barry has to drag him back, reprimanding him for the use of his powers in front of his parents, but that isn't his concern because he just wanted to get away.

Barry tells him again and again to calm down,and when he does, he sees the calendar and looks for the scar he had when he was thirteen that's nowhere to be seen, he closes his eyes.

"I had a nightmare, Uncle Barry," Wally manages to force out, "It was bad." _Linda. Irey. Jai. My wife and kids, but I'm the kid now, aren't I?_

That night, the West family gets a revelation, but they can't stop Wally from being Kid Flash, because that's all he has left of that life. Wally's always been known for being a hasty thinker, but there's no hesitation when he realizes that _when he is old enough _he will _find _them, Linda and the Titans and all of his friends and only then will he know-

Everything's going to be alright.

* * *

><p>Waking up, Roy has a horrible headache, and three things run through his mind as fast as a Flash.<p>

1. Where the hell are Robbie and Fleet-Feet?

2. Shit, what happened to them?

3. Why the fuck is he at Ollie's place?

When he stumbles out of bed and into the washroom, head dizzy and eyes bleary, Roy washes his face, noticing none of the usual stubble that he had. For a second he wonders when the hell he gained Dick's 'smooth lady skin' ability, before he looks into the mirror.

Fuck.

Despite the fact that he is often thought of as the 'dumb' one in the group, Roy understands the situation quite quickly. Either he was de-aged and they were sent back to their mentors, or...

_Time travel, _he thinks as he stares at the calendar sitting above the clock, _why the hell did it have to be time travel? _

* * *

><p>It's Dick who brings all of them together in the end, two weeks later, finding them and <em>hoping <em>that they have the same problem. They learn, through the Internet, that they're all 'sidekicks' by now, at least, though 'they' haven't met each other yet. It brings some reassurance that they haven't lost everything, but it isn't really enough, right?

They meet at a small pizzeria that they used to always go to when they were Titans. At least this place still exists.

When Wally sees Roy, he pauses. "What?" he mumbles. Roy is at least sixteen in his body, while Wally is three years younger. It takes a moment to process that, before he realizes the many cases when the time travel and universal 'battles' managed to change the way the world is constructed. They're heroes, nothing is too strange that they can't comprehend it.

Roy takes a moment to laugh, before asking, "Where's Robbie, runt?"

Rolling his eyes at the new nickname, Wally says, "I don't know, haven't seen him yet. Why do you get to be older than me?" Oops, perhaps Wally didn't want that to come out as much of a whine as it did. Oh well.

"Isn't like that boy scout to miss a meeting. Wonder where he is." Roy points out, ignoring Wally's last sentence, this time with some semblance of serious emotion. It's then that someone says, "Right here."

That someone is maybe ten years old, short and scrawny, with hair as black as Batman's cape, and wearing a pair of tinted glasses.

_Enter Dick Grayson, _Wally thinks.

* * *

><p>To tell the truth, it isn't easy sneaking out of Casa Wayne. Dick plans to get to the pizzeria fifteen minutes early, just in case, but the plan doesn't fly. It takes at least thirty minutes of convincing to make Bruce believe that Dick's just going to Babs' place, and then he searches for ages to find the 'zeta-beams' he's read so much about.<p>

It takes him time to get used to being eleven again. Gotham Academy is a bore, not much better than Bristol, and for some reason he's a mathlete? Dick's good at math and all that, sure, and in the depths of his mind he thinks he can feel the knowledge that this child that lived this body gathered. He's been on patrol for the last few days, and when not doing that and his work, he's been watching surveillance tapes of the Manor on his...interesting holo-glove, and doing the rings.

Nothing feels right.

He was a runt when he was eleven, back when things made sense, but he was never _this _short. It makes him feel too small and uncomfortable in his own skin, and that's something he's never had to deal with before, except for..._Tarantula _(but he's not allowed to think about that, not when he's supposed to be the _glue_). In patrol, it's the worst.

He'll look to the side, wanting to share some horrible pun with his Robin, and Damian isn't there, Damian probably doesn't even _exist _yet. Tim's still a little kid, normal, and _happy family and _Dick knows he should feel good for him, but he can't because he misses _his_ family. Jason's on the records as a delinquent, but _not dead yet. _Steph is some normal kid, so Dick knows he should leave her that way, and Cass, well, how can he find Cass? Babs can _walk _and Dick will do anything to stop Joker from... Life's a mess, but when isn't it for a vigilante? _  
><em>

So when he finally sees Roy and Wally, when he knows that they also remember, well...

He's a bit shorter than he should be, and that's saying something, but he can do this. Maybe he can even _change things._ Imagine that...

"We can't let them know. So we'll simply have to adapt."

* * *

><p>Roy would laugh, but Dick's life isn't the only one who's turned so much it's comical.<p>

He's not gonna sink, y'know. Robbie's worried and so is Wally, but they shouldn't be, not when he knows what the heroin did to him the last time, not when the aches that he bore all that time, all the rest of his life and the _longing_, are gone. Roy's better than that, Dinah told him when she, well, she was the one that helped him through, right?

Dinah doesn't know him here.

Roy is not surprised. He _can't _be. His name is Roy Harper and he's still Speedy, for some reason, and there's a little (very big) bit of him that screams that the world isn't okay the way it is, because his daughter, his little light, isn't here with him, but that's wrong. She wasn't here with him in that world either.

That world. This world. All the worlds in the world. He can't tell if this is a second chance or if the multiverse is screwing with them again, and if so, then _fuck _the multiverse.

It's a Friday, and Ollie's hosting another one of his parties. Ollie stumbles onto the stage, roaring drunk and only half faking it, and it's funny, he _swears _it's hilarious, when Ollie passes him a cup of wine under the table after his inebriated speech (and when the hell did Roy start using those kind of words?) and winks. Maybe Dinah's Ollie's date, and she dances with him through the night, though she spares a moment to dance with Roy and she _doesn't _coo over him like the rest of these society ladies, telling him what a _big _and _strong_ boy he's growing up to be, how _kind _Mr. Queen was to take him in.

Dinah makes him laugh a few times, and he knows that for now she's still just trying to befriend her boyfriend's ward, but it's better than nothing and if this stays, _if _this stays, then at least it'll get better.

(But who knows? Maybe he's deluding himself again.)

* * *

><p>Wally likes school, honest. It's better than before, since this Wally is a science genius, and in this body his speed powers make his mind move miles a minute.<p>

And, of course, therein lies the problem.

He's bored.

When he's bored he thinks, and when he thinks all he can hear in his brain is the names of those he's left behind. He knows he just has to wait, but every second away from this life he knew is too long. Every second seems like an eternity.

But then he remembers a few times, when the Flash was tired and the day was too long for someone who lived childhood so much, that Wally thought that maybe, just maybe, it would be good to be back to the old days, when things were simple and heroes clobbered villains and the Teen Titans (god, that was a horrible name, why did they choose that?) were at their best.

Maybe he should relish this time.

_After all, there's another world where Barry's dead and I'm the Flash and it's hard not to completely grow up. _

As soon as school ends, Wally runs to Barry's house (because it's always been strained with Dad) and grins. "Hey, can we go get some ice cream?"

(Apparently, there's some in the fridge. That's alright. The candy-striped curtains are fine times to remember, but today he'll settle for eating tubs of ice cream while watching Aunt Iris' favourite rom-coms.)

* * *

><p>Sometimes, all the lines are blurring.<p>

Being younger, he doesn't feel the years as much as he did.

There's times when the entire world weighs down on him, and times when he feels nothing at all. Sometimes it's the last one that worries him the most. It's like he's drifting and losing sight of who he is, since he is two people now, and though they may be similar, they are not the same.

Of course, he should be used to this by now, he's Robin.

_Batman_

_Nightwing_

_Richard John Grayson. _

_Dick. _

"Hey, Babs," he catches up to Barbara Gordon, apparently his only friend in this demonic privilege-party with social hierarchies to rival the best of Gotham under the guise of a private school. It's kind of odd having Barbara the same age as him, especially with all those years he had spent idolizing her when he was just ten years old, then eleven, then twelve, then thirteen, then fourteen, and on and on and on. Maybe he never stopped.

"Yeah, Dick?" she asks impatiently. She's rolling her eyes as he grins and says, "What did Mr. Freeze say when he asked Poison Ivy out?" _"God, Tim, he actually said that? You were staking out and he was asking Ivy out? You should have taped it, Timmy, what did I teach you? Blackmail, first and foremost."_

"Let's chill out."

...

...

"Get out."

So, who is he, really? He doesn't know, but he can get bye. After all, he's been getting by for years and years and the thing he's always managed to do, though so many better men and women have died in his stead, is survive.

("So, you know, Babs, I'm so turbed right now.")

* * *

><p>When they meet Kaldur, it's all <em>wrong, <em>because it's the right costume on the wrong body. Garth-Aqualad-Tempest has been with them ever since the beginning, and it doesn't matter that Roy always made fun of him and called him fishface or whatever the new name of the week was-

It's just that they never really wanted to contemplate the fact that they might not find their way back to the way things were.

"Greetings, I have heard much of you from my king."

Robin and Kid Flash exchange glances and Speedy scowls. Eventuallly, they have enough courage to ask, "Do you know anyone named Garth?" and they can only sigh in relief that he, at least, still exists.

You see, when they asked about Donna, and Diana looked completely, utterly confused and just a little bit burdened.

(Mostly because she knew a little girl called Donna Troy once, and why would these little proteges come along and ask her about one of those she failed to save?)

* * *

><p>"We're in a team again, Wally."<p>

"Yeah, but Roy's not..."

"We'll find him, and we can stop this temper tantrum. He's better than this...I don't really understand why he's like this right now. Maybe he's forgotten, maybe he thinks I'm just a kid now. I've half forgotten myself."

"But, hey, we're Titans, what could possibly go wrong?"

"You know you should never say that."

"What could possibly go wrong!"

* * *

><p>That's what makes the failsafe simulation the worst. The two of them, they are standing together and once again facing something like the end of the world. But Roy isn't with them and that a difference, because they've grown even closer than they've been before in these last few years.<p>

And now everyone is dead.

So, Dick tells him before they enter the mothership, "They're not in there. It wasn't a teleportation device."

Wally doesn't rage, doesn't scream and scream and yell his head off. Instead, he looks his best friend in the eyes and grabs his shoulders tightly. "Does that mean?"

"Yeah. Heavy on the dis."

Wally smiles like he doesn't mean it and puts his goggles on. "It doesn't matter, though. We're still here, and we're still heroes. Teen Titans forever. We can blow them to hell, and like with all our other plans, hope for the best."

Dick cackles quietly. "Titans, go!"

Everything flashes before their eyes, childhoods, families, heroism, and deaths.

So they go. And they die, side by side (once again).

And they wake up.

* * *

><p><em>This isn't possible, I can't be- I can't-<em>

If he has all these memories that even the Light doesn't know about, how the hell is the mole? How is he some fucking clone? His name is Roy Harper, and he is realer than any of the villains who say they are the ones who cloned him, because they are _only fucking reflections of before-_

They weren't even- They're not even the- And _he's _the one who's the clone, who's the fucking _mole. _

There's a sort of irony in that, and he thinks he should go straight tot he cosmic lady who put him and his friends there in the first place, and give her the finger. The thing is, he isn't even sure if that's real anymore, because it could all be something that the Light placed in his mind, so can he even trust them anymore?

But he doesn't have a choice, they are Robbie and Kid Flash, and they have always tried to be there for him. T_hey will be there for you when you fall, and they have done so much for you. _

(And they do, they pick up the pieces even if it takes years of running away and catching back because they won't let him just disappear, they have to _find _him and they are a _team _before everyone and they will always be family.)

* * *

><p>It's nothing it's nothing it's nothing <em>it's nothing- <em>

And it's nothing except-

He misses the way things were so badly, so, so badly. He can't fill those holes and he feels everything is drifting apart and then-

He turns to the two of them.

"I'm fine."

"We're fine."

* * *

><p><em>And we'll never stop repeating until we-<em>

* * *

><p>The problem is, they have to start from the beginning.<p>

The problem is, they can't have what they lived again.

The thing is, they'll find their brothers and lovers and children again.

The thing is, they don't know what they were sent here for, but they'll make the best of it, and there's this life ahead of them.

(For all they know, it might just be a second chance to play it all over again.)


End file.
